Jon Husted doesn't rule out limiting early voting throughout Ohio

Plain DealerOhio Secretary of State Jon Husted is considering making early voting hours uniform across the state.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said he is considering requiring the same set of early voting hours across the state in the run-up to the November election.

"There's nothing forthcoming and nothing in the near term as far as a directive on this matter," Husted said in an interview, "but I will be listening to local boards of elections' concerns on this issue."

Husted, a Republican who called himself "a champion for doing things uniformly," said he would not rule out eventually issuing a directive to address the growing controversy over the hodge-podge of voting hours in each county across Ohio. He has time to think about it. Early voting begins Oct. 2.

Democrats and watchdog groups are concerned the mismatched sets of rules on voting hours favor Republican candidates over Democrats.

While the law allows the four-member county boards of election -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- to set their own hours for in-person early voting, when there is a tie, the secretary casts the deciding vote. Husted said that if called upon to break a tie, he will side with limiting voting to weekday business hours -- 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

He's done that already in a handful of counties, including Cuyahoga, Summit, Franklin and Lucas -- Democrat-heavy areas with major Ohio cities, respectively, Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Toledo at their core.

Meanwhile, a few Republican-dominated areas -- Warren and Butler counties in Southwest Ohio -- have voted to extend their voting hours into evenings and Saturdays.

In those counties, Republicans voted with Democrats to extend the hours, whereas Republicans in counties where Husted has broken a tie had voted against extending hours.

"Early voting opportunities should not be limited by the county where a person lives," said Mike Brickner, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

The ACLU sent Husted a letter on Monday asking him to order the 88 county boards of election to follow the same hours of operation.

"All voters should have the same early voting opportunities and those opportunities should be as broad as possible," Brickner said.

Ohio Senate Democrats also sent Husted a letter Monday, urging the secretary to live up to his claim of supporting uniformity in voting.

"You have claimed to advocate for 'uniform standards' that treat all voters the same," said the letter, signed by five senators, including Nina Turner of Cleveland and Tom Sawyer of Akron.

"Unfortunately, it has become abundantly clear that all voters in Ohio are not being treated the same in regards to early voting and any notion of 'uniform standards' has been thrown out the window," the letter reads. "That is unacceptable and must be rectified immediately."

Congressman Tim Ryan, a Niles Democrat, outright accused Husted of using his office to help Republicans.

"It appears that he is using political calculations to limit who gets to vote and when during early voting to help make sure Republicans are at an advantage in November's elections," Ryan said in a statement. "This is a clear violation of his role to oversee Ohio's elections in a non-partisan way."

Husted defended himself, saying "I have been a leader for being an advocate for uniformity" and insisted that he is reviewing the issue.

Later, Husted's spokesman Matt McClellan said, "Secretary Husted will not respond to political hysteria, rather he will work with local elections officials to find a thoughtful solution."

Husted did not outline which county boards of election he would be talking to or say when he might make a decision on whether to issue a directive, other than saying he did not expect to make a decision this week.

Meanwhile, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald plans to hold a news conference Tuesday to ask the county board of elections to reconsider its ban on weekend early voting, now that other counties have voted to allow it. FitzGerald, a Democrat, said the county has the money in its budget to cover the extra staff.

With this being a presidential election year and Ohio again a swing state, the stakes are high and an enormous amount of attention is being focused on access to voting.

Husted last week announced that his office was now offering registered voters the option of updating their home addresses online. The measure is intended to cut down on the use of provisional ballots, which are more highly scrutinized, confusing and sometimes not counted at all.

And the secretary reiterated last week that for the first time in a major general election, Ohio would be mailing absentee ballot applications to all 7 million registered voters to give more opportunities to cast a ballot.

But the issue of varying early voting hours across the state has dogged Husted for weeks. And President Barack Obama's campaign has sued Ohio, naming Husted as a defendant, over a new state law that ends early voting three full days before Election Day.

An estimated 105,000 voters statewide in 2008 voted in person during that final three-day stretch, especially in heavily populated areas such as Cuyahoga County, which election watchers said was a boost for Obama.

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